Director of Communications for Dr Mahamudu Bawumia’s campaign team, Dennis Miracles Aboagye, says the National Democratic Congress (NDC) is likely to experience the fiercest internal contest in its history as succession politics begin to emerge within the governing party.

According to him, the NDC is entering unfamiliar political territory as it gradually prepares for a future beyond President John Dramani Mahama’s leadership.

Speaking in an interview on Joy FM's Top Story on Monday, May 25, Mr Aboagye said the NDC had historically managed internal disagreements because it always had a dominant leader around whom the party united.

“The NDC is basically going through what every political party experiences in a multi-party democracy, not just in Ghana but elsewhere,” he stated.

He explained that from the era of former President Jerry John Rawlings to the leadership of late President John Evans Atta Mills and subsequently President Mahama, the party maintained a clear line of leadership that helped contain internal tensions.

According to him, even major disputes within the party, including the fallout involving former First Lady Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings, did not significantly destabilise the NDC because the party still had a recognised leader.

However, Mr Aboagye argued that the current situation is different because President Mahama is widely expected to be serving his final term in office.

“In the next few months, nobody in the NDC would really care much about what President Mahama says because, as it happens in every democracy, a President who is exiting and will not contest again becomes a lame duck,” he said.

He added that the governing party must come to terms with the political realities ahead and prepare for intense internal competition.

“What the NDC needs to do is accept its current reality and allow internal competition to evolve naturally. Otherwise, the party is likely to witness the fiercest internal contest in its history,” he stressed.

Mr Aboagye further claimed that early signs of internal rivalry are already beginning to show within the governing party. “We are already seeing party members exchange shots, and the real contest has not even started yet,” he added.

The Bawumia campaign spokesman also took a swipe at the governing party, stating that he does not sympathise with the NDC’s internal difficulties.

“So I don’t wish them well because the NDC clearly has become a menace for this country,” he remarked.

Mr Aboagye nevertheless maintained that such internal competition is part of democratic politics and said the NDC would have to brace itself for the challenges ahead.

Touching on the New Patriotic Party’s (NPP) electoral prospects, he said the party’s chances in the next election would depend largely on the vision and ideas Dr Mahamudu Bawumia presents to Ghanaians and not the fortunes of the NDC.